


The Key to a Quiet Mind

by SentientSilvyn



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Artificial Intelligence, Gen, Prompt Fic, Season/Series 10 Spoilers, Sorta mind control?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-05-01 23:14:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14531487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SentientSilvyn/pseuds/SentientSilvyn
Summary: Sigma had recently turned Maine from himself into the Meta, but hadn't managed to gain full control just yet. Maine still had his own agenda, but working against Sigma wasn't always easy. However, when Sigma makes a small miscalculation, things may take a turn for the better





	The Key to a Quiet Mind

**Author's Note:**

> I found a prompt, I liked the prompt, I tried to write the prompt. I honestly intended this to be a little longer, but I like how it turned out. Thank you for reading!

All he could hear was the screaming in his own head. His own screaming, as he threw his leader off that cliff. Sigma pushed his body on, leaving him with little motor control. 

Sigma’s voice became three voices. Eta sounded worried, driving into his thoughts a little closer. Iota was quick to brush everything off, looking on the bright side. 

He felt himself turn around, watch Tex run away, heard Sigma’s voice, all the while fighting for control again. He regained enough - or Sigma granted him the control again - to turn and look at the wreckage of what used to be the Mother of Invention. 

They’d been trying to find ways off the ship for weeks, staying under the radar. CT had jumped ship before the plan was finished, and it had cost her. The rest of them were trying to be smarter about this, even though Maine would like nothing more than to run his fist through the Director. 

He started stalking back towards the ship, Sigma spurning him on further. Sigma wanted the AI. He wanted the Alpha, but Maine was worried about his comrades. Those worries didn’t find voice. His hands should be shaking. 

As he approached the ship, figures started standing out on the bridge. The Director and Counselor, talking.  _ Neither of them were implanted. Move on. _ Move on.

He had a feeling Sigma was still upset over failing to capture Gamma. That was his first target, one that Maine managed to gain enough control back that Wyoming could get away. Sigma spent the next hour after that mentally screaming at Maine, sending him to his knees from the mental shockwaves.

That wasn’t now. He needed to focus on now. 

The crew was running everywhere, making sure no one was permanently injured. A quick scan showed no signs of other Freelancers. At least none near him. Maybe they all made it out safe, away from what Sigma would make him do to his teammates. 

He caught a glimpse of North and South running away, together, hopefully to somewhere safe.  _ But that means Theta’s getting away too _ .

Maine took a lurching step towards the window. They had a head start. We couldn’t catch him at this rate. Didn’t want to catch them. Wanted to let them run as far as they could.

He continued through the MoI, more crew members rushing past him, squeezing against the walls as Maine stalked the hallways. His presence was always imposing, scaring people into staying out of his way, at least until they got to know him better. 

Around the same time Sigma did, Maine realized Wash was still in the hospital wing.  _ Epsilon! _ Already removed, remember? He was the start of the removal. That’s what made Sigma start to go crazy. He didn’t want to leave Maine’s head. For whatever reason.

_ Well then we need to find him. Epsilon hasn’t left the ship. _ He wanted to check up on Wash first, make sure he was still breathing. 

He started walking towards the medbay, Sigma retreating in his head. Probably to figure out where Epsilon was being kept, even though Maine wanted nothing more to do with these damn AI. Eta and Iota had been staying in the back of his head, at least, arguing quietly between themselves once they saw the twins running. 

It still made his head feel heavy, having several consciousnesses stuffed in a single body. Shaking it, he kept walking, rounding the final corner and coming to the small room housing medical equipment.

The room was a mess, beds tipped over and computers scattered across the room. The glass was spiderwebbed, but Wash had at least rolled to a clear corner of the room. One of his hands was flexing and unflexing, his visor pointed towards the floor. He was awake. He was alive.

Even in medical, Wash was in full armor. That shouldn’t have been as funny as it was. Out of all of them, he hated being out of it the most. Even more than Carolina.

A shudder went through Maine’s body, and he squeezed his eyes shut briefly before Sigma’s voice and presence came back full force, pulling him into that dark hole again. 

_ I found Epsilon. We’re moving now. _ He felt his body start walking away from medical, away from Wash, who had raised his helmet in those few seconds. He couldn’t even raise a hand to waive, to let Wash know everything would be okay. 

Epsilon was apparently halfway across the ship, in one of the lab rooms the Director had banned them from entering. His fist moves, knocking out the single guard standing near the door.

Not a single person stopped him as his body walked in the room, meanwhile he was protesting every movement, gaining no ground with these things stuck in his head. All he could do was watch, and hope he wasn’t going crazy from this. 

His hands opened the door, revealing the room. There were several storage units, most empty, but one was glowing. Pulsing, almost as if responding to someone entering the room. 

He walked towards the storage device, the edges of his vision turning firey-red as Sigma became more and more interested. 

Before Maine knew what was happening, his hands were on the storage unit.

And then something else was in his mind,

Flashes of cyan, purple, green, yellow, and black, all in varying shades, crossed his vision as his mind narrowed down to a single name - _ Alison _ .

A play by play of memories that weren’t his flew through his mind - as his felt his own memories being sifted through.

Growing up in a colony, steadily outgrowing every other kid. Joining the SPARTAN program. Being recruited by Freelancer. Playing nice-guy to meet everyone. Watching CT and Wash go through the same procedure when they were recruited. Cornering Wash in the hallways, seeing teammates come back injured more often, coming back without a voice,  _ throwingcarolinaoffacliff _ -

He heard himself scream before he realized what was happening. It was low and guttural, more rumbling than actual screaming. Regardless, it attracted whoever was still on the ship. Footsteps soon sounded in the hallway.

Maine looked up in time to see guns trained on him. Epsilon was still screaming in his head, Sigma pushed back with Eta and Iota. It was hard to focus through the fog of everything whizzing around. 

Behind the row of guns were the Director and Counselor, who was furiously typing on his datapad. Maine stood to his full height, muscles screaming after being locked from the tenseness of the encounter. 

They were talking. Wanted to recruit him. Wanted him on their side. 

Epsilon kept flashing memories. The beginning of Project freelancer. A child, no more than 5, with flame red hair. His team, his friends, loaded on a pelican.

He had been working with them to get away. He wouldn’t stay here. They had to know that. 

Maine shouldered past the guards, who all lowered their guns. He walked past the Director, straight for the medical bay again. Epsilon helpfully showed him Wash’s freakout during implantation, only encouraging him to move faster. Sigma kept strangely quiet, the only noise from Epsilon, his boots hitting the floor, or his breathing.

He was getting out today. They both were.

Years down the road, they would catch up with North and South again, both of them almost 40 and still bickering like children. They would find York and Delta, who still would crack jokes and inappropriate times. The most unusual thing, however, would be Carolina standing tall again.

Maine knew he watched her fall off that cliff, right before Tex ran away. Sigma didn’t realize at the time that Carolina would have found a way to save herself. 

Wyoming would have been caught by Tex, and Florida would still MIA. 

But most of the team would be there. And they all had each others backs this time.


End file.
